The Herb King

The sky was already and Aenwyn was hiding in the spot where she had inscribed a Confinement Rune. The elite soldiers of the Lassiter Household were scattered in the Great Noxus River, waiting for their prey to arrive.

Earlier, Aenwyn received a report from the group she sent to the Linaza Household's territory. According to them, they saw a hundred battle steeds just right outside the Linaza Household's estate. There were also a lot of supplies and weapons tied to each of the steeds. She knew right away that Brian Linaza had finally taken the bait.

After she got the report, Aenwyn commanded the scouts to regroup with them in the Great Noxus River to prepare an ambush.

At this moment, she had fifty soldiers lying in wait, while Brian was coming with one hundred soldiers. Although the soldiers under her command were only less than half of Brian's, she was confident that she could trap them in her Confinement Rune.

Suddenly, Aenwyn's Communication Rune lit up and she hurriedly activated it.

"Miss Aenwyn, there is movement up ahead." One of her soldiers reported.

"Verify their identity. If it's Brian and his men, retreat immediately and head to the ambush point." Aenwyn quickly responded.

"Roger!" The call was disconnected after that.

Not long later, her Communication Rune lit up once again.

"Miss Aenwyn, it's them. I'm now moving to the ambush point. I've already informed the others to gather. We will be there in five minutes. From the speed enemies' mounts, they will arrive in approximately seven minutes."

"Alright. You guys move silently and make sure that they won't notice your presence." Aenwyn replied.

"Yes, Miss Aenwyn!"

Aenwyn issued a whistling sound similar to the sound of birds. It was a signal to all the hiding soldiers that the enemies has arrived.

Everyone grabbed their weapons as they stared intently into the distance.

Soon, their comrades arrived and they quickly blended into the darkness.

Aenwyn's eyes suddenly narrowed as she stared in a certain direction. She could faintly feel the ground trembling. 'They're here...' She thought to herself.

Meanwhile, Brian who was leading his soldiers didn't notice anything amiss. He coldly stared ahead as he urged his mount to move faster.

Hm?

Brian furrowed his eyebrows as he swept his gaze in the surroundings. He raised his fist as he pulled the reins of his mount. He sensed a fluctuation of aura in the area and it wasn't weak at all! "Come out! I know that you are hiding somewhere!" He shouted in a cold voice.

'That was the aura of a Level 4 Esper!' He muttered in his heart as he scanned the place with a wary look.

Aenwyn who was hiding behind the bushes smirked when she heard his words, but she was also surprised by Brian's keen senses. A small amount of her aura leaked out when she released a stream of world essence into the Confinement Rune. She never would have thought that Brian would actually notice it.

She wasn't foolish enough to reveal herself just like that. She was only waiting for the Confinement Rune to activate.

A few seconds later, the Confinement Rune she inscribed on the ground abruptly lit up.

"Attack!" Aenwyn roared as she swiftly dashed towards Brian.

"Kill!" The soldiers hidden in the area immediately revealed themselves and pounced at the stunned enemies.

When the Confinement Rune was activated, thousands of illusionary vines suddenly appeared and trapped Brian and his men, making them unable to move.

"Shit! It's a trap! Dammit!" Brian cursed under his breath when he saw Aenwyn swiftly moving in his direction.

His men were also panicking when they heard the loud shouts. They became even more anxious when they realized that they couldn't move a muscle.

Brian's veins protruded as he tried to break the vines that bound him. The vines snapped under his intense power, but Aenwyn was already in front of him and he couldn't block her sword.

Puchi!

Aenwyn's sword penetrated his chest!

Brian's eyes turned bloodshot as he grabbed the sword's blade. "You're no longer affected by the Slave Rune! How did Aethelwolf remove the Slave Rune without activating the alarm I set up?" He muttered grimly as he glared at the elven princess.

Aenwyn tightly grabbed her sword as she coldly glanced at Brian. "Sir Aethelwolf is a Level 4 Engraver and he removed the Slave Rune right after the auction you organized. It didn't even take him a day to remove it. He knew that you were planning something right from the start and we have been preparing for this moment!"

Brian spat out a mouthful of blood when he heard this. "H-He is actually a Level 4 Engraver?! How could this be?!" He stared at Aenwyn in disbelief. His world essence suddenly ran amok because of a major change in his mood.

Aenwyn no longer said anything. She took out the Slave Rune that was handed to her by Aethelwolf and threw it toward Brian.

The man was already in a state of disarray and he no longer had the chance to dodge the Slave Rune. It was only when he felt coldness in his neck that he realized that something was wrong.

"T-This is..." He grabbed the Slave Rune and tried to remove it, but Aenwyn abruptly pulled out the sword off his chest, making him stagger and lose his footing.

Thud!

He fell to the ground with an indignant look on his face. He was a peak stage Level 4 Esper, but he actually fell into someone's trap without even having the chance to fight back!

"That is a Slave Rune personally crafted by Sir Aethelwolf! I would have killed you, but you are still useful to us so I could only spare your dog life!" Aenwyn's cold words made him feel despair.

The Slave Rune attached to his neck slowly activated and his eyes turned dim as he fainted on the spot.

Aenwyn retracted her gaze from him and watched the slaughter happening in front of her.

The elites brought by Brian were effortlessly killed by her soldiers. They couldn't even defend themselves and all they could do was wait for their deaths.

"Don't kill their mounts! We will take them back with us to the mansion!" Aenwyn commanded.

Soon, the one hundred elites who came with Brian were all killed.

"Burn their bodies and remove our traces."

After getting Aenwyn's command, her soldiers quickly moved into action. They retrieved the corpses of their enemies and piled them in one place before burning them collectively.

Looking at the burning pile of corpses, Aenwyn's eyes remained calm.

The bodies were engulfed by the roaring blaze and everything slowly turned into ashes.

"Let's go back!" Aenwyn muttered as she grabbed the fainted Brian. She then tied Brian to a mount before jumping on its back.

The soldiers tied the mounts and brought them back home with them.

***

Aethelwolf was in the middle of refining pills when he felt his Communication Rune vibrating. He took it out of his trouser's pocket and turned it on. "What's up?" He asked.

"We've captured Brian and we are now moving back to the mansion. We also captured a hundred battle steeds." Aenwyn's cold voice entered his ears.

"That's fast! Cover Brian's body and don't let anyone see his face. By the way, what about the men he brought with him?" Aethelwolf asked tentatively. From the tone of her voice, he had a feeling that those men must have met a gruesome end, but he still wanted her to confirm it.

"They are all dead. They are death soldiers trained by Brian. It would be difficult to make them submit to us and using a Slave Rune on them isn't worth it." Aenwyn replied.

"Is that so?" Aethelwolf senses the cruelty in her voice. Perhaps those men were the same people who captured her back then so she took revenge by ordering her soldiers to kill them. "Bring Brian back to the mansion and make sure that he doesn't die. We need him alive if we want to acquire all his assets."

"Alright." Aenwyn replied.

Aethelwolf disconnected the call and kept his Communication Rune inside his pocket. "I was worried for nothing. Aenwyn is a skilled elven warrior." He could only admit that the elven princess wasn't just an ordinary elf. He was even prepared to hunt Brian by himself, but Aenwyn accomplished the task on her own.

Aethelwolf thought about the assets owned by the Linaza Household and he couldn't help but grin. Now that they had control of Brian, the entire assets under his name were already as good as their own.

Brian Linaza was in control of a huge network and it would be a great help to strengthen the intelligence force of the Lassiter Household.

Inside the Alchemy room, Aethelwolf laughed joyfully as he continued refining pills. He even took out a bottle of wine and a piece of rare tobacco to celebrate Aenwyn's success.